It has been a whirlwind the last couple of weeks... going to the Red River Rivalry last weekend and then off to Cincinnati with the Renovation Team this week it has been a little crazy... but really good!

Last weekend my brother Jonathan had to deal with the death of a young man in his student ministry of course that is never easy but talking with him this week he said God has done some amazing things thru this tragedy.

They had hundreds show up for the memorial service and then for the Funeral. Wednesday night he said they had over 500 kids show up at Detour... over 300 HS students! Over a hundred kids have committed their lives to Christ through this experience this week. Only God can take tragedy and replace it with healing, joy and hope.

Tuesday evening  we (Renovation Team/Spouses/ Terri & Amber) loaded up a fan and headed to Cincinnati for the CCDA National Conference. We kicked things off Wed with the Pre-Conference Institutes. I hung out listening to Bob Lupton for the afternoon and he just blew me away. He has been a part of helping under-resourced neighborhoods and communities in Atlanta for decades. His wisdom and insights were fantastic and really timely for us at Renovation.

I know that everybody had a great time not just on Wednesday but throughout the week learning, thinking, networking with other churches and ministries around the country trying do what we are doing at Renovation. 

Hearing John Perkins every morning is always the highlight though! What an incredible man of God he is and what a great teacher of the Word. 79 years young and still preaches with great passion and insight! Every person should take the time to read his book Let Justice Roll Down... his story.

We heard Bart Campolo speak Friday evening and then we loaded the vans up and headed back to B-Lo... we got back about 4.30 Sat morning! We had the whole day to recuperate! 

Today was great... waking up to sunshine and warm weather! 

We finished our 5 week series today Leaving Lust Vegas. We talked about some very practical ways by which we can leave lust vegas behind! This has not been an easy series but it has been my favorite one because of what God did in the hearts and lives of many men and women both young and old. We started this series with hope and we finished it with hope! I hope everybody got their "parting gift" as you left today!

This is going to be another busy week for the Renovation Team as we get ready for Trunk or Treat and then for MarriedLife Live. We only have about 20-25 tickets left so you might want to call the office and get your tickets this week! 

Sunday we are going to Baptizing so call the office if you want to get in on the fun!

I want to say thanks to all of the volunteers who really stepped up in a big way to pull off this series... it is great to serve with such awesome people! Love and Appreciate You!

What a weekend i had... my dad and I hoped on a plane at 6.30 friday morning headed to Dallas. The three Cockrell boys took Dad to his first Red River Rivalry For those who don't know this is played at the Cotton Bowl during the Texas State Fair. There were 96,000 fans... half Orange and half Red and what an experience and atmosphere I have never seen anything like it. We then flew back last night.. got back into B-low round midnight. We had some awesome barb-b-que and mexican so it was an awesome weekend from that perspective.

Unfortunately we had just landed and was headed to pick up our rental car when my brother Jonathan's 16 yr old son called him in a panic. I could tell something bad had or was happening... Jon's face turned white as he was talking to Bradley... I was thankful he was talking with Bradley not about him. Bradley and 7 other of his buddies had planned a surfing trip about 4 hrs from where they live in Wilmington NC. They all spent the night together and got up and left around 6.00 am... and drove to Hatterus NC. They drove right to the beach... got there around 10 and started surfing... apparently the waves were really big. They had only been surfing for less than an hour when Bradley after riding a wave looked around to find his buddy Craig... they saw Craig's board floating you can read the story here. Craig drowned and of course the boys were devastated. We got a flight for Jon to fly back to NC Friday evening and he got back before Bradley got back so he missed the game the next day.

It certainly tainted a little bit of the fun and experience for sure. What a reminder of ho fragile life is. Our lives can turn on a phone call at anytime.

We had a great day today... week 4 of our Leaving Lust Vegas Series... had special guest Dr Tim, Cheryl Chambers with us. So it was Gloria, myself and the Chambers sitting around a biestro table talking about really practical steps for husbands and wives... parents and kids... singles to navigate out of the deep waters of sexual addiction... it was a really special day for many people I believe. 

Nick and the band did another great job of presenting truth through music... just so thankful for the musical talent that God has given us at Renovation!

Joshua and his team took 38 students to Circle C's Fright Night... 44 total! That is crazy cool. So proud of him the job he is doing not only leading Renovate our Student ministry for MS and HS students but also Renovation Station. We have had a lot of people step up and volunteer to lead and serve in Renovation Station... but we are growing very quickly in our Wed nite student environment and we need some really sharp. passionate adults to serve in various roles on Wed nite... talk with Joshua or call the office to find out how... 819.4100

That's it for now... Lord thank You for a great day and week! 

Happy Thanksgiving to our Northern friends... we have two Canadians on our leadership team so we got a jump on some good eats tonight! 

I love the Team that God has brought together here at Renovation. I know this month is Pastor Appreciation month and I know that my role is the out front guy and I get a lot of "ada boys" from a lot of people but i also know that without the Team both paid and volunteer we would not be where we are 10 months into a new church plant. Each team member brings great value and a ton of capacity with an authentic heart for God and for people!

We had another great day yesterday... week three of our Leaving Lust Vegas series. 

Porn Again.... of course the topic of our attention was pornography. It is the number one issue that is infecting, destroying the Church in America. Unfortunately it's probably the last thing that most pastor's want to talk about... because there are a lot pastor's who are struggling with the very issue in their own personal lives.... because it's really uncomfortable... because well intentioned Christians will get mad, offended if they do... 

Porn is not prejudice... it will level anybody and everybody it can!

We discovered yesterday that the avg age of introduction to porn is 11 yrs of age!

Porn is effecting 47% of all Christian families.

We watched a video that XXXChurch.com (scroll down to bottom of page... click on Porn Sunday and then hit preview when the next page opens up) produced for churches to use all over the country. It is an incredible powerful presentation that I would encourage everybody to watch if you didn't get to hang out with us at Renovation. We watched the video and we interspersed strategic songs throughout the video. Each song was chosen to show the backside of the addiction that porn takes us into. 

Here is the songs we used in the order we sang them...

Addicted by Josh Hoge...talks specifically about the addiction of pornography...

Private Dancer by Tina Turner... gives the perspective of woman that is being used in the porn world... that the women involved in porn is a mom, a daughter, a sister, a niece...

Hurt  by Johnny Cash... gives the perspective of what it feels to be addicted to anything... drugs, alcohol, porn...

Broken but I'm Healed by Byron Cage speaks the hope that we all have based on the great Physician!

Of course we aren't saying these songs are what we should be about... but we are using them to examine what our culture is saying to us... when we drag that which is in the dark into the light of the Gospel things happen, people change, chains are broken.... the power of lust is lessened.

Several people came to Christ yesterday...how cool is that?!

I am not sure how many raised their hands, finger, elbow, pinky... when I gave people an opportunity to first confess to God because I also closed my eyes but I pray there were many.

I have been praying for the conversations that hopefully began yesterday... husbands with wives, boys with dads or moms, daughters with dads or moms... remember what we heard... confess it to God, confess it to someone else, clean it up

Here are some helpful tools to do just that...

xxxchurch.com

www.x3pure.com

x3watch.com

What would happen if the Church of America stopped consuming porn, stopped committing sexual sins, stopped living together, committing adultery... what would happen?

Renovation what would happen in our community if we would surrender our lives to walking in purity? How would our families... friends... co-workers be impacted for the Kingdom... what could be and should be would actually begin to happen... that is what God wants for us!

I reread The Pursuit of God recently by A.W. Tozer. 

It's funny how at different seasons of life how good books can impact you in different ways based upon you current circumstances.... that is the case for Pursuit... what a great read for me right now! 

I am a reader that marks up his books... bends the corners of pages... totally mess up the appearance of a book... better the book the worse it looks when I am through wit it. I will write favorite thoughts in the empty pages in the front or back of a book for quick reference in the future.

So I thought I would post those "favorite" thoughts!

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in ONE!

God wills that we should PUSH on into His presence and live our whole life there…

It is more than a doctrine to behold… but a life to be ENJOYED… every moment of every day!

The greatest fact of the tabernacle was that Jehovah was there… a Presence was waiting within the veil.

At the heart of the Christian message is GOD himself waiting for His redeemed children to push in to conscious awareness of His PRESENCE!

According to (today’s Christian mindset) its teachings we are in the presence of God POSITIONALY (alone) and nothing is said about the need to experience that PRESENCE ACTUALLY!

…and the present generation of Christians measures itself by this imperfect rule…ignoble contentment takes the place of burning zeal. We are satisfied to rest in our judicial possessions and, for the most part, we bother ourselves very little about the ABSENCE of personal experience.

SELF is the OPAGUE VEIL that hides the face of God from us!

The VSIBLE becomes the enemy of the INVSIBILE…

The OBJECT of the Christians faith is UNSEEN REALITY!

There is NO contrast between the spiritual and the real… the spiritual (unseen) is real… as the nose on your face!

GOD is the great ALL!

God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of… those belong to God. Prying into them may make us theologians but they won’t make us saints!

It is the PRESENT voice (of God) which makes the written WORD… all powerful… the Word is alive because God is alive!

The Bible will never be a LIVING BOOK to us until we are convinced that God is articulate in the universe… now, today!

It is a book (the Bible) which WAS spoken and is still now SPEAKING!

FAITH is the continuous gaze of a soul upon a saving God!

Jesus never uttered OPINIONS!

The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the EFFORT!

Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must… but exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts!

These are just a few...

My copy looks pretty bad... a ton of great stuff in this little book... if you have not read it... read it... if you haven't read it in a while it's worth a reread!

I am sitting here watching a 40 yr old man play like he is 30... Brett Favre is amazing!

Thought I would post a few thoughts while enjoying the game.

What an interesting series we are in and the feedback I am getting.

We have never done a "sex" series either at Elmwood or here at Renovation so this is my first try at it.

I did do a similar series with our men back when I was over the Men's Ministry at The Chapel back on N Forrest but that was in an all men's environment not a mixed audience as we have at Renovation.

Yesterday I must admit was a little easier sledding because I think everybody knew what was coming or at least was "ready" for it!

My heart and bottom line for all of us during this series is to discover what God's BEST is for our lives... and to examine scripture and see what He has told us do and not to do and if we accept and surrender our will, agenda, desires to His what will happen and or if we reject and not surrender our lives to Him what the outcome will be. 

Many times I have heard similar types of messages but it is done almost in anger... my hope is that we communicate truth as it is... share it in love, humility but with authority as it stands on real truth and let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit does so well...

When I have a star athlete at a local university come up to me after reading, hearing and discovering that ALL sexual activity acted upon or thought about is not a mistake but sin... that God wants us to flee from all of it... and thanks me for sharing this truth in a way that makes sense and that he "really needed to hear it." I know it's the power of God's Word plus the Holy Spirit plus creating an environment that helps people take steps toward God and others... that is an incredible combination!

I am sure as several folks have shared with me that it is really uncomfortable (especially my generation on up) to hear us talk about issues that are not typically talked about in a church setting. 

We are using songs that communicate this cultures philosophy... exposing it to the light. We are not saying hey these are great tunes you ought to go download them but exposing them for what they are... opposite of a Biblical worldview of our sexuality and how we should manage this incredible gift of sex.

Just a side note that was really cool this week... Jack (Frank Sinatra) the man who sang last Sunday in between our Gatherings was back this week. He told some folks that he had never been to that kind of "church service in his whole life" so he came back just to hear more! Pretty cool I thought!

Nick and the band are just killing it... we are so blessed to have the talent and capacity to do some of these things!

Renovation Station was rocking it I heard... I so appreciate all the volunteers that make up this special Team! I am also very encouraged by all the new volunteers that have stepped up and committed themselves to be a part of this strategic and important part of Renovation Church. Joshua has some 18 students involved with Renovation Station in some form or fashion... drama, singing, teaching, tech, small group assistance... we had 91 kids this past Sunday! Thanks everybody who are helping us at 11.00... what a blessing you are!

Well that's it for now... Brett is still bringing it... amazing!

Well we got to see another environment get launched last night... CLUB 56! This is an environment designed specifically for kids in 5th and 6th grade. I was excited because I have a 5th grader who has been watching his older sister go to "cool stuff" and he "never" gets to... so last night he was so jacked up about going and then on the way home could not stop talking about how awesome it was! That make a dad's heart (and a pastor's)explode for joy. Got to throw out big props to Meagan and her crew... Margarita, Jarael, Tiazza, Leena they did a great job!

Just a little background as to why we have launched this and how and who it is that is bringing the muscle...

We started to observe this summer that when Josh started reaching students (7th-12th gr) on Wednesday nights that some of them were bringing their younger brothers and sisters. Trying to really create a great experience for our students and being able to speak into their lives we new that we would need to provide another environment for the younger kids so we began to think about what that would look like and how we could launch it and sustain it. 

At the same time we started talking with Diann and the Peace of the City Team about what this year was going to look like as it related to being even more strategic and intentional in our partnering together. We worked together this summer to build bridges and awareness into the NW community so people would know what is available to them and for them here on our campus not just on Sunday mornings but through out the week. 

So we decided to coordinate and mesh what they had been doing on Tuesday evening into what we were hoping to do on Wednesday's and so last night was the first night of all of that! 

So right now it is the Peace of the City Team that is bringing the muscle to make CLUB 56 a reality. Most of the kids were kids that had been at Homework Club and were able to stay over and experience the fun and excitement a great discoveries on how to be a great friend! 

Renee Mapp also a part of the Peace Team launched her Adult Mentoring Program with about a dozen men and women that she had met from this community through Summer Jam. This has been a dream and passion for Renee for a good while and to see it get off and running was great! She will be helping young and old adults learn... helping them develop time management skills, literacy, computer skills... great stuff!

Just so you know... what we are doing on Wednesday night is for everybody and it gives an opportunity for other folks who may not go to Renovation to partner with us to serve and lead these environments. Peace has volunteers from all over the city from various Communities of Faith and we would love to welcome those from other congregations that have a heart and passion to serve in these kind of environments during the week and still attend your Community of Faith.

If you have a desire to learn more about how you can get involved you can call our offices at 819.4100 and speak with Michelle Stockton ext 101.

...So it was awesome to walk around campus and see Divorce Care, Adult Leadership Mentoring, CLUB 56, Women of Grace small group, 50 plus students and workers with Joshua all going on simultaneously. 

Please be praying for the Leadership Teams of both Renovation and Peace and the awesome team of volunteers we currently have in order to make all of this happen and that more folks will join the Team in the days and weeks to come.